Equals
by jacqs30
Summary: After Thomas McBain’s killer is revealed, John as lead investigator and Natalie as a forensic technician are assigned to the same investigation. Natalie’s analysis of the evidence gives John the clue he needs to solve the case.
1. Chapter 1

After Thomas McBain's killer is revealed, John (as lead investigator) and Natalie (as a forensic technician) are assigned to the same investigation. Natalie's analysis of the evidence gives John the clue he needs to solve the case.

Chapter 1

Natalie studied the article in front of her. The new technique described in it was fascinating to the aspiring forensic technician. As she read, she silently hoped to be able to try it out sooner rather than later. Earlier in the day she had convinced her supervisor to put in a request for the money needed for the equipment.

John knocked on the door to the inner office of the lab. Natalie jumped then shook her head, laughing at herself. She now realized how John could get so wrapped up in his case files.

"Come in."

"Hey you." He smiled as he watched her tuck a piece of hair behind her ear.

"Hey yourself. What's up?"

"Can't I just visit?" She almost seemed annoyed at him being there.

She smiled, relaxing him immediately. "You could. But you don't. Besides if I remember right we have a date at Rodi's later so either you're coming to cancel on me or you want something analyzed without having to schedule it."

He held up his hands in surrender. "Ok I'm busted. I can't get anything by on you can I?"

She shook her head. "So which is it Lieutenant?" Her tone sounded stern but the shine in her eyes belied her true feelings.

He shifted from one foot to another then put his hands on his hips. "Actually both."

Her face lost its glow. "Go on."

He could see the disappointment in her eyes and it killed him. What she didn't know was that she would be busy tonight too. "You've been assigned to a case for tonight. With me."

"Is that so?"

He nodded. "Yeah, a murder in the new condos down by the river. From what I hear the scene is pretty bad. I told Bo I thought it would be good experience for you to be involved. He agreed and so did Parker," referring to her boss.

Natalie turned and grabbed her field bag. "Then let's get going." He nodded, holding the door for her. "And John?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

He smiled. "Any time."

As soon as they arrived at the scene, Natalie busied herself gathering the evidence in her assigned area. John looked over the scene and questioned the responding officers. Every now and then his gaze drifted to where Natalie was standing. She still didn't realize how proud he was of her and her determination.

Natalie could feel John's gaze on her as she worked. She forced herself to concentrate on the job at hand. The more time she spent with him on the job the more she was starting to believe that he had faith in her abilities. He would ask her questions and really listen to what she had to say. She told herself that his opinion didn't matter but she knew that was a lie. His opinion was as important as her uncle Bo's or her parents'. Maybe more.

As soon as she finished her second sweep through her area, she logged the remaining evidence and turned it over to the tech in charge of the overall scene. She knew that John would grill her later about what she saw. She was about to remove her gloves and pack up when a glitter on the bed caught her eye. "Hey Steve, are you done over here?" The crime scene photographer nodded as he lined up his next shot.

She moved cautiously to the edge and lifted the comforter slightly. Her breath caught in her throat. "It can't be him."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

John saw the look on Natalie's face and felt his heart skip a beat. "What is it Natalie?"

She looked at John then back at the bed. "You better come here."

He moved quickly to her side and felt a familiar knot form in his stomach. "Haver."

She nodded and motioned for Steve to come take photos of the small music box that had been placed almost hidden under the bedcovers.

They walked out of the bedroom and out into the yard. John was the first to find his voice. "How could that be? The man is dead."

Natalie shook her head. "I don't know. It seems a bit late in the game for a copycat doesn't it?"

John nodded. "Unless there's been some coverage about the Music Box Killer case lately, I can't believe it's a copycat. Why would he wait this long to start up?"

"Are you ok?"

He looked at his concerned girlfriend and smiled reassuringly. "Yeah I'm ok. You?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Let's just find this bastard ok? Make sure he's either in jail or really dead this time."

He smiled broadly. "That's my girl."

The sharp look on her face made him hold his hands up in defense. "Figure of speech, down tiger."

She smiled and winked as she headed back inside. There might be more evidence that had been overlooked. She knew Haver as well as anyone on the investigative team, maybe better. She might see something that they missed.

Three hours later Natalie, John and the entire investigative team headed to Rodi's for some decompressing before calling it a night. It had been one of the worst scenes that John had seen, even during his time in the FBI.

Mac groaned loudly as they all walked in but smiled as he began pouring beers for the crowd. Natalie and John took their places on either side of "their" pool table. The CSI team made their bets for Natalie with the cops who were sure that **this** time, John would win.

"So who's gonna break Lieutenant?"

John smiled at her, moving closer as he lowered his voice. "Go for it. No matter who wins, I still get lucky."

She nodded, smiling broadly as she made her way to the end of the table. John noticed that all of the men standing around watched approvingly as Natalie bent forward to line up her shot. Smiling, he thought to himself, look all you want fellas. She's all mine.

"I got solids." She proceeded to run the table. He shook his head. "Ok, I'm breaking next game."

She laughed as she racked the balls for the next game. "Go for it."

He looked at the cops standing around the table. "See what I put up with?"

They laughed as she rolled her eyes. "Are you gonna talk or play?"

He winked playfully. "Careful what you wish for gorgeous."

No one noticed the quiet stranger sitting in the corner watching every move, every look and hearing every word. "It's going to be so much sweeter this time, Johnny boy."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

They walked into John's room, John carrying a 6-pack of beer and Natalie carrying the case file and crime scene photos. Over the last couple of months they had spent several nights like this, pouring over notes and photos while bouncing ideas off each other. Tonight was different though, this was an all too familiar crime. Both John and Natalie had been deeply affected by the man they both suspected was at it again.

John opened two beers and put the rest in the fridge. He handed one to Natalie as she handed him the crime scene photos. Once she had her notebook and pen ready, he started walking through the pictures and making comments that she noted quickly.

After a few minutes he stopped talking and put the pictures down. "You ok?" Natalie asked worriedly.

Rubbing his face with both hands, he exhaled a long breath and looked at her. "Yeah."

"What are you thinking about?"

He held his arms open and she settled against his chest, tightening her arms around his waist. "Finding you on my bed, thinking you were dead. Those were some of the longest seconds in my life, until you woke up and I could see that you were going to be ok."

"And then you freaked out on me and pushed me away."

He kissed the top of her head. "I know. I'm sorry. I didn't know what else to do then."

"What else?"

Smiling at how well she knew him, he continued. "Then finding you with that damn bomb strapped to you."

"And you stayed with me."

He reached down and tilted her chin to bring her eyes to him. "I could never have left you."

"Not physically anyway."

The tone in her voice belied the insecurity she still felt at times because of the times he had pushed her away. More times than he cared to remember. "That's in the past. I'm not going anywhere."

"Promise?" Tears threatened to fall from her eyes.

"I promise."

She sighed heavily with relief.

"You really thought I would do that again?" He was surprised that she was so nervous at the idea.

"Every time you think I'm in danger, you've pushed me away."

"That was before I let myself realize how much you mean to me. I know now that I would rather have you with me for whatever time we have on this earth than live another day without you."

This time the tears were of happiness, not fear. She pulled his face toward hers and pressed her lips to his. "Show me how much."

He smiled as he deepened their kiss, before pulling away just enough to say, "my pleasure."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Despite their passionate encounter leaving them both exhausted the night before, both John and Natalie awoke before sunrise the following day. Each new that the next few days were going to be critical to solving this case if they were to prevent the killer from striking again. Skipping breakfast and only stopping for coffee, they arrived at the police station by 6am.

Bo had been shocked by their discovery of the music box at the crime scene and had had officers pulling all available information from the previous Music Box investigation through the night. John hadn't felt this step was necessary as he was sure he had committed every nuance of that case to memory but Bo had insisted that they have all available resources at their disposal.

Natalie squeezed John's hand before heading down to the lab to begin cataloging the evidence for analysis. "Call me later."

He nodded and smiled as he watched her walk away. As unsure as he had been of her career choice at first it was nice to be involved with someone who understood his job. It took a lot of pressure off to know he didn't have to explain the middle-of-the-night phone calls when he had to rush to a scene.

Bo motioned for John to join him in the task force room that was being set up for this investigation. "So far the media hasn't found the link between this case and Music Box case. We hope to keep it that way but you know how that goes."

John nodded and waited for his boss to continue.

"Right now we have approval for overtime to cover this without having to explain anything but that won't last long so we have to step this up."

Before John could say anything to Bo, Natalie appeared in the doorway, pale and shaking. "What is it Natalie?"

She held out a box and waited for John to take it from her before sinking into the chair next to the door. After pulling on gloves and opening the box, John swore under his breath as he pulled out a small music box. There was a note inside that simply asked, "Miss me?"

Natalie looked at John, smiling weakly. "Not that I think he would leave prints necessarily but I had on gloves when I opened it."

"Every little bit helps. Well I think this confirms that it's Haver and not a copycat. There wasn't much coverage of you in the papers before."

Natalie nodded. "One benefit of having family running the local newpapers."

"Has the autopsy been done of our victim?"

Bo shook his head. "10am. I'm going, you?"

John nodded before looking at Natalie. "You gonna be ok?"

"Absolutely. Just shook me up a little. I'm fine."

"Ok, I'm gonna go check the security cameras for tapes to see if we can figure out how this got delivered."

Natalie stopped him. "Already taken care of. I caught up with Carl, he was working last night. He said that some kid delivered it, said that my secret admirer paid him to drop it off. Carl didn't think anything of it, just figured you were being cute."

John made a face. "Me? Cute?"

Bo and Natalie laughed despite the seriousness of the situation. Natalie spoke as she winked at her uncle. "Well Carl hasn't been here long enough to realize John McBain is allergic to cute."

"Ha ha, very funny. I'm still going to grab those tapes and see if we can find this kid. Did Carl say what time?"

"Yeah, around midnight."

"Thanks. Keep your phone with you, ok?"

"Always. I'll call you if I find anything. You too Uncle Bo." With that, she walked back toward the lab.

John looked at Bo. "I don't like this Bo."

"I know." Bo rubbed his face with both hands before continuing. "Do you want to assign an officer to her or do I get Asa to hire someone?"

"If you think we can get away with the payroll, I'd rather it be one of ours. These guys all know Natalie, she's one of us and they'll do whatever they have to to protect her."

Bo nodded. "I'll find a way. Just do it."

Across town Steven Haver removed the headphones he was using to listen to the planning going on inside the LPD. He had made mistakes the last time, underestimated John and his fiery redhead. He wouldn't let that happen again. It was time to finally destroy the former FBI agent.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

John stared at the tape, Bo on his right side and Natalie on his left. The only person who had entered the forensics lab between 11pm and 12:15am was Carl. After that the tape went black. The last image that was seen was Carl walking toward Natalie's desk with a bag in his left arm.

Natalie's eyes shone with anger. "He said a kid delivered the package. He lied to me."

John nodded. "Looks that way. What time does he come in today?"

"I'll have to check for sure but it should be 9pm."

"I don't want to wait that long. Can get you his address? I'm gonna go talk to his guy."

Bo stopped him. "Wait John. I think we should let someone else lead that interrogation."

John sighed heavily. "I can handle it, Bo."

"Never said you couldn't. I'm looking out for the integrity of the case. You know that we have to do everything by the book because of the past you and Natalie both have with Haver. We can't give any decent defense attorney a leg to stand on."

"Fine. But I'm going along even if I can say anything."

Bo smiled. "I knew you'd at least want that. Just keep your mouth shut and hands to yourself."

John smirked and saluted sarcastically. "Yes sir."

Bo walked to his office, leaving his niece and lieutenant alone. Natalie grabbed John's hands and stared up at him. "You will behave right?"

"Why does everyone keep acting like I'm a spoiled 2 year old who is going to throw a temper tantrum?"

Natalie tried to keep a straight face but failed miserably. John frowned at her, then started laughing with her. "Ok, so I have a temper sometimes."

"You've tried to kill the last two guys who have kidnapped me. Wow, did I really say that? You don't hear that from a girl everyday I bet."

John shook his head, smiling at her ability to laugh about situations that were anything but funny. "I'm not going to choke anyone this time, I promise."

"That's good to hear. Now go catch the bad guy would you? You still owe me a date. And that doesn't mean playing pool for the entertainment of the entire LPD and forensics team."

He leaned closer and kissed her softly on the lips. "I'm good for it."

"Don't I know it!" She kissed him once more before turnng toward the door to go back down to the lab. "I better get cracking on analyzing our evidence. This time I'm gonna help put this son of a bitch away."

Detective Baker knocked on the door as John stood impatiently behind him. The younger man was nervous at having to handle this interview while being watched by the Lieutenant. Everyone knew that John wanted nothing more than to choke anyone who might even think of harming Natalie and the Commissioner had told Baker that he was to insure that John kept his hands off Carl, no matter what.

After five minutes with no answer, Baker turned to John. "Now what Lieu?"

John looked in the window. The living room was in shambles. "I think we have probable cause to enter Detective. It looks like this place has been ransacked."

Baker looked in the window and nodded. Both men drew their weapons. When John turned the door knob, it opened easily. He entered first with Baker covering him. Within five minutes they had secured the home and called for the forensics team. Carl wasn't going to be answering any questions.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Natalie and the other members of her team arrived within minutes to the scene. Carl had been sliced from ear to ear, the note beside him indicating that he would never tell what he knew.

She noticed a yellow-ish colored powder on several items around the body. She had seen the same substance on the last crime scene. They hadn't had a chance to analyze it yet. She mentioned this to her supervisor and got his permission to go back to the lab to start that analysis. She had a feeling it would be important to the case.

John saw her packing up to leave and walked over to her. "Calling it a night?"

She looked up sharply until she saw him smiling. "Sorry. Yeah I think we might have found something of interest. Connecting this to the last murder scene. I'm gonna head back to the lab and see what I can find."

"Keep me posted?"

"But of course."

"Oh and Natalie?"

She looked back at him. "Yeah?"

"Be careful." Those weren't the words he wanted to say but they were at work and he didn't feel comfortable saying anything more. Instead he winked and smiled at her.

"You too Lieutenant." She looked around quickly to see if anyone was looking and when she was satisfied that they weren't, she blew him a quick kiss. Even though it was common knowledge that they were a couple, they had worked hard to keep that out of "office" situations.

John turned his attention back to the scene when Bo called his name. Natalie rushed back to the lab with the officer who was keeping tabs on her. At first he had followed in a separate car but the day before she had suggested they car pool. It was silly to waste money on two cars when she knew he was there.

Two hours later, Natalie had finally finished her analysis of the powder found at both crime scenes. They were identical and she had identified them as pollen spores from a rare flower normally found in the deep southern United States. These plants were not native to Pennsylvania so if they could find the source, it would help to pinpoint where Haver might be hiding.

Natalie logged onto the message board that many of the forensic techs there used to post pictures of the spores and ask for any help in locating a source in the Llanview, PA area. She had posted the information and was about to log off when an alert let her know that someone had already answered her posting.

As she was checking it, John walked in with Bo right behind him. She smiled at them. "Done at the scene?"

John nodded. "You find anything?"

"Yeah I'm hopefully about to figure out the last piece of the puzzle. How about we meet up in the task force room and I'll update you guys then. I gotta run it by the boss first."

As much as John wanted the answers, he knew not to push Natalie. This was her job and she had to do it her way.

Natalie turned back to the computer and read the latest posting. "I know of two places where this flower has been planted." As Natalie read the descriptions of the two places a large smile appeared on her face. One was west of them but the other was right outside of Llanview. She printed the address and ran upstairs to find Parker. She wanted to go right to the task force room but she had bypassed her boss once and had been reprimanded. She wasn't going to deal with that again.

After clearing it with Parker, she moved quickly into the task force room where John and Bo and the rest of the team were waiting for her. She smiled and handed John the printout.

He smiled back at her. "You're the best."

Blushing, she smiled back. "I have my moments."

Fighing the urge to throw his arms around her and kiss her breathless, he instead held up his hand for a high five and went about organizing the team for what they hoped would be a swift and uneventful capture.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

With their plan formulated, the SWAT team along with John and Bo headed to the site Natalie had found. There was a cabin on the grounds where the flowers had been planted that the team felt sure was being used as Haver's hideout.

Natalie sat down in the chair next to the desk and sighed happily. She had helped find Haver. Finally he was going to get what was coming to him after all these years. When she stood, she knocked over the papers that were on the desk. Swearing under her breath, she knelt down to pick them up. As she started to stand, something caught her eye. There was a small silver disk under the desk. She reached for it and it detached easily. A chill ran down her spine. It couldn't be. Could it?

She put it in her pocket and walked quickly to the break room. She had seen Detective Baker heading in there a few minutes ago. He was the most senior officer there at the moment, having missed out on going along for the arrest because of being out on another call.

"Baker?"

He turned and smiled at Natalie. "Hey Buchanan. What's up?"

She held her finger to her lips, praying that he wouldn't give anything away. She pulled the disk from her pocket and begged him silently not to say anything out loud.

His eyes widened but he said nothing. He pulled a pad of paper from his pocket and wrote quickly, 'where did you find that?'

She took the paper from him and wrote back, 'in the task force room.'

"Damn."

She wrote again, 'is it what I think it is?'

He simply nodded. She left him standing there holding the bug as she ran to her car. She had to stop John and Bo. It was a setup.

John strapped the Kevlar vest securely and checked his gun one last time. He nodded at the officers waiting for his go-ahead. They began moving toward their target. If all went well, they'd have their prisoner in custody before he knew what hit him.

Natalie reached the roadblock that had been set up to keep civilians away from the cabin. The officer recognized her immediately. "What are you doing here Buchanan?"

"I don't have to explain. I've got information I have to get to the Commissioner and the Lieutenant. It's life or death, Wallace."

He could tell by the look on her face that she meant every word she said. He knew his tail would be on the line if anything happened to her but he had to trust his instincts. He moved his car out of her way and let her continue toward the cabin. At the sight of the first line of cars, she stopped the car and continued on foot. She knew was taking a chance but she had to get to them somehow.

Bo spotted her first and came running to where she was. "What the hell are you doing here Natalie?" His voice was a whisper but she could hear the anger and fear nonetheless.

"It's a trap Uncle Bo. He had the task force room bugged."

"What? Are you sure?"

She nodded, fighting to catch her breath. "I showed it to Baker, he agreed that's exactly what it was."

"Dammit! Ok we gotta regroup. I want you to go back to the roadblock."

"No way in hell. That's John in there. I'm not leaving until I know he's ok. Don't waste any more time trying to get me to leave."

Bo nodded and went to work. He had to find a way to keep his men safe. Somehow.

John looked around him and tried to find something out of place. This situation was starting to feel a little too perfect, a little too easy. His gut was screaming at him that this was a trap. But how could it be a trap? He had finally decided to follow his gut when a shot rang out from inside the cabin. The SWAT team started to react but John held up his hand.

He turned around briefly and caught sight of Natalie standing next to Bo. The fear in her eyes told him that his gut was right. However before he could move, he felt a sting in the back of his thigh. When he looked down he saw a small needle protruding from his jeans. That was the last thought he had before everything went black.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Natalie's face froze in fear as she watched John crumple to the ground. He had been standing on the edge of the clearing leading to the cabin. Before anyone on the team could react, Haver grabbed him and pulled him into the woods.

Bo started talking rapidly into his walkie talkie, barking orders to everyone on the team. He looked at Natalie and saw tears streaming down her face. "We're going get him out of there, Nat."

She looked at Bo and nodded. "I have an idea of how."

"I don't think I like the sound of that."

"Haver wants to make John suffer. What better way to do that than for him to be able to get to me?"

"I'm not handing you over to that psycho!"

Natalie smiled despite the situation. "That's good to know. I'm not asking you to hand me over to anyone. Just let me distract him."

Bo sighed heavily. "I don't like this. John is going to kill me."

"I'll protect you Uncle Bo."

"I appreciate that. Ok, let me get the team around so we can decide exactly what we're going to do."

Haver looked down at his unconscious adversary. "They don't seem to know what to do now Lieutenant. I thought you would have prepared them better. Or did you underestimate me AGAIN?"

He looked back at the officers and saw Natalie Buchanan among them. He smiled as he thought how sweet it would be to let McBain watch his lady love die before his eyes. That might be better revenge than simply ending his life. He had only sent Natalie the music box as a way to insure McBain knew it was him and would come after him. But this might be even better.

John groaned as he fought to regain consciousness. He opened his eyes and saw Steven Haver staring back at him. His body felt sluggish and he knew he didn't have the strength to overtake his captor. "What are you gonna do Haver? Kill me?"

Haver shook his head and smiled evilly. "I was going to do that originally. Get rid of you once and for all. But I think I've come up with a better way to make you suffer. Your pretty redhead is over there with the rest of the cops. I think it would be much worse for you to watch her die than for you to die yourself."

John felt anger and fear rising within him, but he fought back the panic he felt at the idea of losing Natalie. "That's not going to happen. I won't let you hurt her."

Haver laughed. "As if you can stop me in your condition. You may be awake but your body is still partially paralyzed and you can do nothing to stop me."

John looked over and saw Natalie moving towards them. His voice caught in his throat as his mind screamed, No!

She walked purposefully and without fear. "Hey Haver, why did you have to drug him? Did you know you didn't stand a chance against a real man like John?"

John didn't know whether to laugh at her insults or scream at her to keep herself safe.

She stopped about 50 feet from the edge of the woods and put her hands on her hips. "Cat got your tongue, Doctor?"

Haver started to shake with anger. How dare this girl talk to him that way? He pulled the gun from his jacket pocket and stood up, pointing it at her.

Natalie felt fear rise within her as she saw the barrel of gun pointed straight at her. She took a deep breath and forced herself to stay calm. There are 15 cops with guns pointed right at the guy. He won't get a shot off.

He started past John, determined to get to Natalie. John only had limited movement but he was able to throw his arm in front of Haver's legs, causing him to trip and fall on the ground. The gun skidded away from him, far enough that Natalie was able to get to it before Haver could get to his feet. As the officers rushed in to arrest Haver, Natalie held the gun on him.

"I was right. You didn't stand a chance against John, even after you drugged him."

She handed the gun to Bo and ran to John's side. "Are you ok?"

John nodded. "If you ever do that again…."

"Yeah I know. Look, I had to do something. I'm not about to lose you."

"He could have killed you Natalie."

"Well yeah he was going to kill you if we didn't do something."

"I'm guessing this was your idea?"

She nodded and smiled. "I even promised Uncle Bo that I'd protect him from you 'cause he said you were going to kill him."

John laughed slightly. "Yeah well I just might."

"Let's get you to the hospital so you can get checked out."

"And then I owe you that date."

"Deal." She kissed him softly just before the EMTs arrived to take him to the hospital.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

John's visit to the hospital had been brief, although not brief enough to suit him. He had spent the night there while they monitored his vital signs and physical reactions, along with doing blood tests. The next morning Michael let him go on the condition that he take it easy for a few days.

John had smiled and winked. "Depends on your idea of taking it easy. I promised Natalie a date and a date she's going to get."

Michael had acquiesced. "Fine, but try to spend some time in bed. I mean resting!"

Bo had given them John a few days off, and Parker had done the same for Natalie after their ordeal. John was combing his hair as Natalie leaned into the mirror putting on mascara.

"Are you sure you don't want something more than Rodi's?"

She shook her head as she put the mascara tube back in her makeup bag. "All I want is to spend a night with you. Rodi's is our place, why would I want to go anywhere else?"

John walked out of the small bathroom. "Because you deserve more than just a smoky bar and dinner of burgers and fries."

He sat on the bed and looked at her. "You deserve all that stuff that girls like."

Natalie smiled and shook her head. "First of all, women." He laughed and waited for her to continue. "Second of all, I don't like that frou-frou stuff. I feel much more comfortable at Rodi's than I ever have at the Palace. I'm not a wine and roses person. Beer and burgers is a lot more fun."

"Burgers taste a lot better than roses." He smirked as she threw her head back and laughed. "Damn I love when you laugh like that."

She pulled him off the bed and pressed herself against him. "You never have to do stuff you hate just to make me happy John. You make me happy."

He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. "You make me happy too. And if we don't leave for Rodi's right now, we won't be leaving this room."

She nodded and grabbed her purse. "Let's go."

They walked up to the door and Natalie tried opening it but it was locked. "What the…?"

John smiled and pulled a key out of his pocket. "Surprise."

Her mouth fell open in shock. "What did you do?"

"I convinced Mac that tonight would be dead anyway and he might as well let me have the place."

"You did this for me?"

He nodded as he unlocked the door and flipped on the lights. "It's Sunday so it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to convince Mac to let me have it. And actually all I had to do was say it was for you. I think he's got a crush on you."

Natalie laughed. "I doubt that. He just wants me to come back to waiting tables and running the bar."

"That could be. You were the best he's ever had here."

"That's very nice of you to say. You don't have to butter me up you know."

John laughed. "I was actually hoping to distract you so I might win a game or two." He pointed to the pool table where the next game was already set up.

"I don't get distracted."

He raised his eyebrows. "Is that a challenge?"

"Yeah I guess it is. Bring it, McBain."

"You're really sexy when you get feisty."

She smiled and grabbed her pool stick. "Is that so?"

He nodded and watched as she walked around the table to break. His eyes roamed her body as slowly bent over to make the shot. Her shirt opened enough to give him a teasing view of her breasts. He felt heat rushing through his body as he watched her first shot. She moved around the table to line up her next shot.

This time her back was to him, giving him a look at the fit of her jeans on her firm ass as she leaned into the table. He knew if she kept this up, they weren't going to make it through the first game.

"Natalie." His voice was husky and she felt a shiver go through her. She knew that tone.

"Yeah," she said breathlessly. She thought back to the first fantasy she had ever had of him. In this bar. On this pool table. She turned around to see him walking over to her. He picked her up and sat her on the table, kissing her deeply. "I want you."

She moaned into his kiss. "I want you too." She pulled away, blushing slightly.

"What's wrong?"

She smiled. "Nothing's wrong. I, um, well I had a fantasy about us doing this."

He smiled with her. "Is that so? When was this?"

She blushed again. "When I still worked here."

"When you used to wear those tight Rodi's t-shirts and black jeans?" He pressed himself against her and she could feel his arousal teasing her center.

"Uh-huh. You made love to me on this table."

"I've always wanted to make your dreams come true."

She grabbed his shirt and pulled him down on top of her. "Make love to me, John."

He nodded as he kissed slowly down her neck, unbuttoning her shirt and kissing the skin underneath. As he moved to tease her nipples through her bra, he unbuttoned her jeans and pushed them lower. She wiggled them down so that they were puddled on the floor. He bit gently on one nipple then the other as she moaned in pleasure.

She reached for his t-shirt, which he quickly removed and laid on the table. She sat up and made quick work of the button of his jeans, pushing them down over his erection. He moaned as her hand brushed his arousal. He grabbed her waist and placed her on his t-shirt, grinning. "We still want to be able to play pool on this table, after all." She giggled as she unhooked her bra, tossing it on the floor, and laid back on the table, lifting her hips so that he could slide her lace panties down. He looked at her, red hair against green felt, her creamy white skin against his black t-shirt. Desire surged through him as he pressed himself against her and felt her wet heat begging him to enter her.

"John, please. I need you."

As much as he wanted to prolong the teasing, he couldn't resist her pleas, he needed her just as much. He guided his length inside her, feeling her body clench him as he slid into her wetness. She moaned as she felt him filling her, signaling her first release. He held still, afraid if he moved she would milk his orgasm from him too soon. As he felt her body begin to relax, he moved inside her, his hands teasing her taut nipples.

She met every thrust as he started to move more quickly. She moaned his name as he moved his hand between them to circle her sensitive bud. She began to shudder as another orgasm shook her. Her body held on tight to his hardness as she came. He held himself back, not wanting to give into this pleasure yet.

She opened her eyes and saw him watching her. Keeping eye contact, she moved her hands to her breasts, slowly teasing her nipples as he watched. His eyes widened as she pinched them gently and moaned as she gave herself pleasure. He began moving inside her again, slowly at first, mesmerized by watching her movements.

He grabbed her hips and began pushing himself in and out of her harder and faster. Slowly she moved one hand between them and pleasured herself, as her other hand continued on her breast. She moaned as he pushed deeper inside her. Her body was on overload and she knew she was going to peak again soon. As she crested, he felt his own orgasm rushing from him. His body shuddered with release as he filled her, feeling her clenching around him.

John collapsed beside her as their breathing began to return to normal. Natalie smiled, snuggling against his chest. "I'll never look at this table the same way again."

He laughed. "Me either. It's gonna be a bit, um, hard to just play pool from now on."

She laughed with him. "That's for sure. Shall we clean up here and go home for round two?"

Despite the exertion of round one, he felt desire stirring within him again. "I'm up for it if you are."

She giggled again and kissed him softly. He then kissed her forehead. "I love you."

"I love you, too. Let's go home."

He nodded and helped her from the table. It was going to be a long and fun night.

FIN


End file.
